big pig peaches:I don't know how things work over in Europe, but in the US construction crews and emergency workers use extra utility lighting regardless of the street lights.

I think the headline is implying that the cost of the energy used by the investigation scene lighting outweighs the cost of the energy of the highway lights, because there are so many more accidents than before.

TFA says no such thing about accident numbers - only that people (old folks in particular) are biatching about the lack of lighting.

As somebody who drives to work in the pre-dawn hours, I can't farking stand most street lighting. There's way too much of it and most of it is terribly designed. I thought the idea was to improve visibility, not blind me. Shine the farking light down on the road, not into my eyes.

I can see a hell of a lot better with just the headlights, without all that extraneous sideways lighting making me hinky.

And when it's foggy out? That's what the white line on the side of the road is for. It's called a FOG LINE, chrissakes. If you can't see anything else you can follow the fog line, long as you don't drive like a jackass.

Don't get me started on the traffic lights that turn red at empty intersections with nobody around in a two-mile radius.

Question for Cecil Adams: Why do we never see people changing out the lightbulbs? I'm sure it doesn't take long, but there are lots of lights, so you should expect to see a crew out somewhere at some time. Just like you never saw people collecting money from payphones.

Enigmamf:big pig peaches: I don't know how things work over in Europe, but in the US construction crews and emergency workers use extra utility lighting regardless of the street lights.

I think the headline is implying that the cost of the energy used by the investigation scene lighting outweighs the cost of the energy of the highway lights, because there are so many more accidents than before.

The article says it is the cost of contractors who have to come out to turn the lights on. Just give rescue workers the ability to turn the lights on. Problem solved.

"According to Rijkswaterstaat, the contractors assigned to manually switch on highway lights are asking for hefty fees."

For those who didn't read TFA, it says the cost is from contractors who have to MANUALLY turn on the lights if there's an accident. The really gloss over this.... While I think the lights are necessary for safety, the article and the headline are completely misleading, making it sound like just the fact that there are accident crews is where the increased cost comes from.

A lot of the new LED based street lighting can use a part night setup where the lights stay on but dim to about half power after peak hours when there is little traffic. It can save considerable energy without sacrificing safety. With few cars on the road you don't have to compete with the light from all the tail lights.

lack of warmth:Also, installing more lighting around all places at night in a crime busy city is helpful in somewhat deterring crime. It doesn't really stop it, but at least you can watch the crooks killing someone.

Much so-called security lighting is designed with little thought for how eyes-or criminals-operate. Marcus Felson, a professor at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, has concluded that lighting is effective in preventing crime mainly if it enables people to notice criminal activity as it's taking place, and if it doesn't help criminals to see what they're doing. Bright, unshielded floodlights-one of the most common types of outdoor security lighting in the country-often fail on both counts, as do all-night lights installed on isolated structures or on parts of buildings that can't be observed by passersby (such as back doors). A burglar who is forced to use a flashlight, or whose movement triggers a security light controlled by an infrared motion sensor, is much more likely to be spotted than one whose presence is masked by the blinding glare of a poorly placed metal halide "wall pack." In the early seventies, the public-school system in San Antonio, Texas, began leaving many of its school buildings, parking lots, and other property dark at night and found that the no-lights policy not only reduced energy costs but also dramatically cut vandalism.

Fano:Question for Cecil Adams: Why do we never see people changing out the lightbulbs? I'm sure it doesn't take long, but there are lots of lights, so you should expect to see a crew out somewhere at some time. Just like you never saw people collecting money from payphones.

In most municipalities they are group relamped at set intervals once every few years. The reason being all of the lights are on similar hours so all the lamps are nearing end of life at about the same time. You don't see the crews because it's normally done in the middle of the day when most of us are at work, and you'd have to be out driving around on that one day in 2-4 years that crews are out there.

In downtown and residential areas they will usually spot relamp if someone calls in a failure.

JohnnyC:legion_of_doo: JohnnyC: We waste an enormous amount of money on streetlights. I really dislike light pollution in general...Glad to see at least one country moving in the right direction on that.

Maybe you can move to Best Korea!

Oh! I get it... if I don't like light pollution than I should move a dictatorship. Such a sharp and clever wit as yours is wasted on the likes of us. You should take that shiat on the road.

I've seen those installed in built up areas when the buried wiring for the streetlights would need to be dug up. Screw any notions of taking years to pay back on the electric bills, they didn't have to tear up everything. That was a win.

James10952001:Fano: Question for Cecil Adams: Why do we never see people changing out the lightbulbs? I'm sure it doesn't take long, but there are lots of lights, so you should expect to see a crew out somewhere at some time. Just like you never saw people collecting money from payphones.

In most municipalities they are group relamped at set intervals once every few years. The reason being all of the lights are on similar hours so all the lamps are nearing end of life at about the same time. You don't see the crews because it's normally done in the middle of the day when most of us are at work, and you'd have to be out driving around on that one day in 2-4 years that crews are out there.

In downtown and residential areas they will usually spot relamp if someone calls in a failure.

Group relamping is pretty much what I expected. The big chemical plants in the Kanawha valley of WV do the same thing.

Fano:Question for Cecil Adams: Why do we never see people changing out the lightbulbs? I'm sure it doesn't take long, but there are lots of lights, so you should expect to see a crew out somewhere at some time. Just like you never saw people collecting money from payphones.

Because modern bulbs last longer?

Also, the newer ones are easier to change, so it's relatively quick. The tall tower style on the freeway with 5 lights in a cluster... They have those on a pulley system, they drive up, open the hatch, lower the lights and change them, no need for a truck and a cherry picker and traffic barricades.

Fano:Question for Cecil Adams: Why do we never see people changing out the lightbulbs? I'm sure it doesn't take long, but there are lots of lights, so you should expect to see a crew out somewhere at some time. Just like you never saw people collecting money from payphones.

The aliens have their cloaking device engaged while they change out the bulbs. They're like illegal immigrants doing work nobody else wants to do, except they have flying saucers.

I guess the simple answer, don't drive in the dark if you can't handle it, didn't occur to all the idiots? oh, right, of course not.

Just think of all the people that live far away from lighted roads, and somehow, magically, make it to their destinations without running into a damn thing. Well, except for deer and other suicidal wildlife.

Gulper Eel: That's what the white line on the side of the road is for. It's called a FOG LINE, chrissakes.

I learned something new today! Yaaaay.

Don't get me started on the traffic lights that turn red at empty intersections with nobody around in a two-mile radius.

I once watched a cop sit at a red light (T-intersection, probably 3 AM) for almost five minutes because I guess he was trying to be a good example to us, as we were right behind him. Finally he got fed up and made his turn. Apparently that one didn't have a sensor at the time on the side road. I'm so glad I found out about the triggers for those things, through Fark IIRC, because where I live now, you basically have to trip the damn things on purpose to have any hope of getting through some of the traffic lights.